Hello everyone!
Today’s topics are: Remembering Gabi Pareras; The Doppelgänger Cards – Update on Hat Trick from Card College Volume 1
These are The Magic Memories 190, gone online Sunday, August 18, 2024, at 0:07h sharp.
All The Magic Memories from 2021, 2022, and 2023, including the Magic Advent Calendar from 2020, can be found HERE.
Remembering Gabi Pareras
As I leafed through the first volume of my Card College, I was reminded of a conversation I had with Barcelona’s Gabi Pareras (1965–2020) shortly before his untimely passing.
I met Gabi relatively late in my magical life, but when we finally did meet—around twenty years ago—we became instant friends. We shared a deep affection for our “father in magic,” Ascanio, and were both passionately devoted to the endless complexities of magic: its effects, techniques, history, theory, literature, and much more.
Gabi was very fond of my books, and he owned all of them that had been translated into Spanish. He, unfortunately, neither read nor understood English, a fact I found quite astonishing given that he was someone I indisputably considered a genius—a term I do not use lightly, as I can count the number of “geniuses” in magic on the fingers of two hands.
Whenever we had a session, sooner or later, he would inevitably speak of Gran Escuela Cartomágica, the Spanish version of Card College, so skillfully translated by Rafael Benatar from the original German. Gabi was always generous with his compliments, and needless to say, this greatly flattered me. It’s one thing for a beginner to enjoy my books, as they were written with that audience in mind, but when someone of Gabi Pareras’ caliber expresses enthusiasm, the praise carries much more weight.
In the last decade of his life, Gabi made a significant part of his modest income from teaching magic, specifically card magic. He held classes at four different levels, teaching five days a week, from seven to eleven in the evening. When he first told me about this, I had to smile—it reminded me of “office work.” But, of course, this was merely a reflection of his very structured approach to studying and practicing magic.
He had the most detailed and sophisticated curriculum I have ever seen before or since, and I was deeply flattered when he mentioned that the structure of Card College had been very helpful in creating it.
Gabi also had countless ideas—both small and significant—about the techniques, effects, presentations, and theories presented in the Card College books, some of which, he told me, he incorporated into his courses.
Gabi excelled at some of the most intricate card magic I have ever seen, arguably only surpassed by a few of Tamariz’s impossibilities.
Despite this, Gabi and I had a tradition he called “let’s play beginners.” We would discuss simple things—mostly tricks—that became far from simple after we had analyzed and synthesized them.
One such discussion, I recall, concerned the “Hat Trick” on page 62 of Card College Volume 1.
The Doppelgänger Cards – Update on Hat Trick from Card College Volume 1
Originally, I devised this trick for didactic purposes, intending to create a light, quick effect that would demonstrate how several False Cuts could be seamlessly strung together to culminate in a surprising climax.
However, after my dear friend Gabi Pareras suggested the presentational hook that I will now share with you, this trick became a permanent feature in my professional repertoire. I dedicate it here to the memory of Gabi, who cherished simplicity as much as he did complexity.
Effect
A spectator shuffles the deck. The magician then places three prediction cards face up on the table and proceeds to cut the deck three times, each time cutting to a card that precisely matches the prediction in both color and value.
Construction, Management, and Script
This effect is best performed at the outset of a series of tricks. Gabi believed it to be ideal in informal situations – when visiting someone’s home and the host, often knowing you perform magic, hands you her deck, which more often than not is in sub-optimal condition. Once you grasp the nature of the effect, you may, of course, adapt your presentation to suit any other performing situation.
In keeping with Gabi’s original presentation, let us imagine that you are among friends, and one of them hands you a deck of cards, knowing of your magical prowess, and you agree to perform.
Remove the deck from its case – see page XY for an artistic method of doing so – while you hesitantly explain, “Before we begin, we must conduct a brief test to ascertain whether the artist is in harmony with his instruments, which, in this case, are your cards. Additionally, we must determine whether the artist and his instruments are in accord with the audience, which, of course, is you, my friends.” Invite a spectator to shuffle the deck and return it to you.
Ribbon spread the cards face up on the table so that every card is visible, as you further enlighten your audience, “It is said that everyone has a Doppelgänger, a double, someone who resembles you – a look-alike. Consequently, playing cards, as symbolic representations of life and the universe, also have a double. Each card has a Doppelgänger, a card that, while not identical, closely resembles it.”
While spreading the deck, discreetly note the top card, e.g., the Eight of Diamonds. The spectators should remain unaware of this. Remove the Doppelgänger of the top card (the Eight of Hearts) from the spread and place it face up on the table in front of one of the spectators, saying, “This is your Doppelgänger card.”
Repeat this with the mates of the second and third cards from the top (perhaps the Two of Clubs and Five of Hearts), placing their mates (the Two of Spades and the Five of Diamonds) in front of a second and third spectator, respectively.
Gather the spread and hold the deck face down in Dealing Position. “You shuffled the deck. Now I shall cut it randomly and place the card I cut to here.” Execute the Optical False Cut, leaving the deck on the table, and deal the top card face down onto the Eight of Hearts in front of the first spectator.
Pick up the deck in Dealing Position and proceed to execute the False Swing Cut. Again, leave the deck on the table and deal the top card face down onto the second card (the Two of Spades) in front of the second spectator.
For the third card, perform the Injog Shuffle and Cut, exactly as explained on page XY, as follows: Execute the Injog Shuffle, allowing the deck with the injogged card to slide back into Dealing Position, with your left little finger maintaining a break under the injog after the square-up.
Next, cut about half the cards above the break to the table, then cut to the break, letting this packet fall onto the one already on the table. Finally, drop the remainder on top of all. Deal the top card onto the third face-up tabled card (the Five of Diamonds) in front of the third spectator.
It appears that you have cut the deck three times and placed each card onto one of the Doppelgänger cards. Summarize: “First, I removed three cards from the deck, which you thoroughly shuffled. Then, I cut the deck several times, setting aside the cards I seemingly cut to at random. These cards could be any three from the deck.” To emphasize this, ribbon spread the deck face up.
“However, if the cards are in accord with the magician, and if the audience is ready for the magic, something nearly impossible has occurred.” Turn the first two face-down cards face up one at a time, positioning them so that they diagonally overlap the corresponding prediction (as is done in casinos for optimal visibility from all angles). For suspense, pause for two seconds (but no longer) before dramatically revealing the third card. (The cards will present themselves as depicted in the illustration on page 63 of Card College Volume 1.)
When the reaction subsides, deliver your epilogue, “I am pleased to report that, through some magical and mysterious means, I have successfully cut to your personal Doppelgänger cards. And with that, the magic may now begin…” This concludes a simple yet highly effective trick, one that possesses an emotional hook and engages the audience in a delightful manner, setting the stage for more wondrous feats to come.
Lest I forget…
If you care to compare the version just described, here renamed “Doppelgänger Cards,” with the original “Hat Trick” from Card College Volume 1, you may find that these are, indeed, two distinctly different pieces of magic.
Undoubtedly, “Hat Trick” served its purpose, offering a sufficiently engaging effect for someone who had mastered the techniques presented in the first three chapters of the book. (It is important to recall that the tricks were confined to employing only the methods taught in the preceding lessons, thereby significantly narrowing the scope of possibilities.)
But now, over thirty years later (!), with three decades of professional performance experience across the globe, coupled with the insights gained from delivering countless lectures, full-day masterclasses, and individual coaching sessions, and after authoring another dozen books, I find myself viewing the same material from an entirely different vantage point.
The simple remains simple, yet now I recognize that even the simplest of things, when revisited with newly-acquired knowledge and enlightened inspiration, embodies a simplicity that conceals great complexity, to paraphrase Miguel de Unamuno, one of Ascanio’s cherished philosophers and poets.
Whereas in “Hat Trick,” the three cards were simply selected and then their mates discovered—a neat display of skill—now the entire routine resonates on an emotional level. The theme of Doppelgängers is intriguing (to say nothing of the word itself), fostering a playful interaction with the audience and lending the performance a deeper sense of meaning.
The prologue and epilogue, though simple, frame the trick in a way that gives it a sense of dramatic unity.
Sure, you might call it a minor trick, and I’d agree, but it manages to touch on the big questions—the kind that can make an otherwise ordinary trick really stand out.
In any case, I trust you found today’s reflections enjoyable… I shall now raise a cool drink to your health, as the weather here in Switzerland remains warm. After a light dinner (well, relatively “light”…), I will return to work on a significant project that I will share with you once it becomes official. No, it is not Unexpected Agenda, as I am still awaiting feedback from my proofreaders. In the meantime, like a marathon runner who cannot afford to stop upon reaching the finish line, I have already embarked on yet another ambitious endeavor. 🙂
Wish you all a successful and happy week,
Roberto Giobbi
